Two Hands — Restaurant in Franklin

We thought it was just in our heads, but it definitely wasn’t. And I’m not one to leave reviews this long, but it has to be done in this case. We were a group of 3 visibly Muslim women and we were sat very graciously by Bella and the section we were in was a bit dark so we hoped to switch to a few tables over where there was more natural light . Bella jokingly warned that we would lose her as our server but she assured us that we would be in good hand with Alejandro.

So we happily made our way over and Alejandro introduced himself and seemed very friendly at first, took our drink orders and then later came back for our appetizer order, and then disappeared for the remainder of brunch. He didn’t disappear from our line of sight, or our section of the restaurant, just from our table. In fact, Bella was the one who put in our entree orders, when she saw that our table was not being attended to at all, and Alejandro nowhere to be found. Mind you it was not particularly busy for a while in our area and Alejandro’s section, and the only times he stopped by our table was to take a my sister’s drink order, when we asked for salt and pepper, and when we asked for the status of our appetizers—25 minutes after we ordered them (I can safely assume he neglected to put them in). Meanwhile another table he was serving that was seated after us had their appetizers come out promptly. Ours came out less than five minutes before our entrees did (the entrees that Alejandro did NOT put in for us).

Alejandro literally didn’t stop by our table again for the remainder of the time, but we observed him very warmly and attentively serve a group behind us. Sarah and Bella were the only ones who came by our table over the course of brunch. Sarah brought us extra condiments, asked me if I wanted to top off my drip coffee, asked us how the food was. We spoke with Sarah at the end because we were incredibly uncomfortable by the entire experience and lack of service with Alejandro, especially after we had been assured that he is great. What baffles me is that all of the reviews on here that sing his praises. And I like to give the benefit of the doubt, but I also know when to respect myself and my own intelligence. His behavior, lack of attentiveness and modicum basic service to paying customers felt targeted and pointed. We watched him clean forks at tables near us that were empty, he walked past us several times and ignored us completely. And at the end when we spoke to Sarah and paid and told her about Alejandro’s behavior, she said she would get a manager to make it right. We didn’t even get to speak to a manager. Here’s the cherry on top: after both Sarah and Bella stopped by our table, and after ignoring us for our entire meal, Alejandro decided to grace our table with his presence and ask if everything was okay, to which I said nothing. Because what self-respecting person would even dignify such a trite question with any sort of response? Couldn’t be me.

Not sure if there are any other Alejandro’s who work at the Franklin location of Two Hands, but it definitely wasn’t the one serving us. Maybe we got his mean twin who gets uncomfortable serving hijabis and Muslims who just want to have a nice brunch to celebrate a religious high holiday.

Anyway, we won’t be coming back to this location again. A shame really, because the food was great, but the service by our assigned waiter was abysmal. So, thank you Sarah and Bella for making up for Alejandro’s inability to be hospitable. And Alejandro, if you’re reading this, Bella hyped you up, but you didn’t live up to it. And a lesson for you: it’s always best to lead with kindness even if you’re not a fan of a group of people, in case your parents didn’t...

EDIT: the business replied asking me to reach out to the email below, which I did. However, no response and it’s been a week

I have eaten here 4-5 times, hoping they will get the kinks worked out that come with a new restaurant, but somehow I think it gets worse each time. Coming from someone who has worked years in the restaurant industry as a hostesses, server, and bartender, I have a tremendous amount of grace toward the realities of running a restaurant. However, when service is consistently and truly poor, I can’t help but vocalize my concerns in hopes that they take the criticism and make changes - the food is good, after all.

Forget about a warm welcome and prepare to feel as if you are a complete nuisance by showing up to dine in. I have never been immediately sat in this restaurant, even if there wasn’t a wait and plenty of tables open. Twice, people who came in behind me got sat first.

The restaurant has policies that the servers go over in lieu of a greeting when getting to the table which sets a negative tone. You can’t split checks (maybe they allow 50/50, but that’s it) and for parties of 6+ they add 20% gratuity - which seems extreme, especially when the service is so poor.

There are more details specific to yesterday’s experience but seeing some other reviews and then the responses from the restaurant, I feel as if this is all pointless. But maybe not!

Food is good, and supposedly seed oil free, which is super important to me and why I would love to see this place grow. But the service will keep me from...

It’s especially disappointing when both the food and service fall short. When we arrived, the restaurant was nearly empty, only two other tables were seated, so we didn’t expect a long wait or lack of attention. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we got.

We ordered drinks, then breakfast, eggs on sourdough toast, with a side of steak for me and bacon and a hashbrown for my partner. The waitress asked how we wanted everything, medium rare for the steak, and “not too crispy” for the bacon. Both came out completely wrong. The steak was well-done and dry, and the bacon looked (and tasted) like it had been sitting out since the day before. The hashbrown was the worst part of the meal, undercooked and oddly fishy in taste. The sourdough toast wasn’t toasted at all, just plain bread topped with lukewarm eggs. Nothing was hot, and nothing had any real flavor.

What made this worse was the wait. Despite ordering simple dishes and the restaurant being far from busy, it took 35 minutes to get our food. In that time, the waitress never once checked on us.

There was clearly a lack of effort and care from both the kitchen and front-of-house staff. Sadly, we won’t be returning, and we wouldn’t recommend it to...